Sukob led the wizard apprentices to communicate in Pans City. The magical scrolls they brought were very popular in the city. All the forces in the city wanted to order large quantities of this kind of scroll from the wizards that even ordinary people could use.
Extraordinary items.
Sukob himself was invited by various major forces, including General Dark Moon, who had just taken control of the royal court, and the blind prophetess of the Temple of the Ten Thousand Serpents.
as well as.
Those behind the scenes who want to deal with General Darkmoon, the ambitious people who are secretly preparing to do something.
However, Sukob declined all these invitations.
But on this day, Sukob had no way to refuse a grand ceremony that was held in public.
In the royal palace, well-dressed dignitaries came one after another.
At the banquet.
Everyone talked loudly, talked about poetry, talked about the glorious past of the King of Ten Thousand Snakes, and talked about the magnificent achievements in the history of the family.
And the protagonist around whom everyone is surrounded is General Darkmoon.
General Darkmoon is a very charming looking man, he looks very young.
He is tall and handsome, with sharp eyes.
He stood in the crowd and told everyone his thoughts, and how he would lead everyone to create a new situation.
Even if what he did seems to ordinary people to be treasonous.
But for being able to reach this point, he still has many fans.
"I plan to follow the example of the White Tower Alchemy Alliance and divide the territory in the center of the Royal Court into several provinces. When the time comes, this country will need everyone's help to manage these provinces for His Majesty, the King of Snakes."
"The past bureaucracy can no longer control such a large country. We need a new system."
"The royal court needs a large number of officials and a certain degree of innovation."
General Dark Moon paused and said seriously and solemnly.
"This country needs someone to stand up and take responsibility."
Everyone looked at General Dark Moon, thinking he was talking about themselves.
He raised his hand: "This person is all of you here."
"As long as everyone is willing to stand up, we will be able to save this country and make it strong again; there will never be a situation where even the barbarians in Lei Ze dare to humiliate us."
Everyone burst into cheers, and some felt that General Dark Moon's words were really exciting.
But among the crowd, there were also some disdainful glances.
Breaking the old order and establishing a new system will inevitably usher in a strong counterattack by the old forces; how can those nobles and those with vested interests under the old system allow General Dark Moon to implement the provincial system of the White Tower Alchemy Alliance.
At present, the control area in the center of the Royal Court is divided into provinces, but what about the future?
Will the entire royal court be divided?
The territories of the great nobles are all states within a state. After implementing the provincial system and dividing them in this way, are the territories still ours?
But the previous great purge had already frightened many people in the city.
Those who dared to resist General Dark Moon have been almost killed; many of the remaining people were those who followed General Dark Moon out of the army, and are naturally strong supporters of what he said.
.
In the palace, Sukob looked at General Dark Moon.
"To change a country, it is still a vast country like the King's Court of Ten Thousand Snakes."
"Is it really possible?"
It can be found that General Darkmoon should have been to Suinhor and the Land of the Rising Sun, and is very familiar with the conditions and problems in these countries.
He also saw the problems within the Ten Thousand Snakes King's Court and was looking for ways to solve them.
but.
Sukob didn't think highly of him.
I don't expect him to be able to carry this already shattered kingdom.
Perhaps the words he said were beautiful and the situation he described was correct, but this was not something he could do alone.
Sukob believed that what he had done could only hasten the demise of the kingdom; the already precarious kingdom welcomed a man who wanted to evade the king and carried out drastic reforms, but there was no god above to give him the full answer.
What he welcomes will not be reborn from the ashes like the White Tower Alchemy Alliance, but will only burn the entire earth to ashes.
The second half of the banquet.
When General Dark Moon tentatively mentioned that he wanted to move the capital of the King's Court of Ten Thousand Snakes to the west, to Eclipse City.
There was an uproar among the crowd.
"What?"
"Move?"
"I don't want to leave here, leave Pans City."
"Lunar Eclipse City? The palace there has long been abandoned, right? Where does His Majesty, the King of Snakes, live?"
"And how much will it cost to move there? Isn't this a waste of nothing?"
The King's Court of Ten Thousand Snakes had two capitals a long time ago, Pans City and Eclipse City.
Pans City is in the east, at the foot of the Mountain of the Origin of Life.
Eclipse City is closer to the west and the sea.
However, as the kingdom gradually grew stronger and relied on the River Shepherd to continuously obtain sufficient supplies, Eclipse City was abandoned.
And now that General Darkmoon proposes to move the capital, it is not just about changing the concept of a capital.
Now, many people couldn't sit still.
Someone immediately stood up and expressed fierce opposition.
You can see it.
This is General Darkmoon preparing for his national policy and his complete takeover of power.
Once the capital is moved successfully, the old forces will be completely broken; power will be reshuffled, and General Darkmoon can really formulate his own national policies according to his wishes, turning the situation of the entire country bit by bit.
More importantly, the Western Capital City of Lunar Eclipse is closer to the south, making it more convenient for the royal court to control the southern territory.
If the capital was in Eclipse City, the territories and nobles in the south of the Ten Thousand Snakes King's Court that were out of control might not be so comfortable.
The benefits seem to be many.
However, there is a very serious problem.
This means that they want to give up the sacred place of the mountain of the origin of life.
This is absolutely intolerable to many people.
Among them, the one that embarrassed General Darkmoon the most was the prophet of the Temple of the Serpents.
The prophet stood up and asked him: "The mountain of origin of life."
"Is that all you want?"
"The descendants of Pans have thus abandoned the holy land developed by our ancestors."
"The descendants of ten thousand snakes just left the place created by the gods?"
General Darkmoon: "The gods are eternal, and the holy land will last forever."
"Whether we do it or not, whether we walk or not, it is sacred and eternal."
"It's always here."
"However, we are only mortals, so we naturally have to consider and prepare for mortals and this country."
General Darkmoon very much hoped that the prophet would give in. The woman in front of him may not be particularly powerful or extremely strong.
But her opinions and will are more terrifying than power and strength.
The blind prophet did not give in at all. She believed that General Darkmoon's move would not only betray his faith, but would also cause the entire Court of Serpents to fall apart.
"Dark Moon!"
"Have you ever thought about it?"
"If the mountain of the origin of life is no longer the capital, if there is no such holy place, if there is no prestige of Pansi City."
"Is the King of Snakes still the King of Snakes?"
"You can still be like this..."
"Do you want to be arrogant?"
The blind prophet's voice became louder: "Leaving this holy mountain, the entire King's Court of Ten Thousand Snakes has completely lost its central link to connect everything."
"Nowhere can the descendants of Ten Thousand Snakes be linked together like this."
"No force can intimidate everyone like this."
"leave here."
"The Court of Ten Thousand Snakes is no longer the Court of Ten Thousand Snakes."
General Dark Moon paused and then spoke.
"I believe that it is not just this mountain that supports the Ten Thousand Snakes King's Court, but also something else."
The blind prophet raised her head, her eyes filled with darkness.
What can be seen is the rhythmic fire of life surging in the darkness.
In her eyes, General Darkmoon's fire of life was blazing and bright. What shone was not only his strong body, but also his will and determination.
What surged in his body was his urgent desire to change the world and this country.
Or rather.
Ambition.
The prophet didn't know why, but he was afraid of the other party's burning desire and ambition.
This blazing fire may illuminate the darkness, but it may also burn everything into ruins.——
During the banquet.
A waiter came to Sukob and invited him into a room on one side.
Sukob met this powerful Dark Moon General. Except that he did not directly put the crown on his head, this was the uncrowned king of the Court of Ten Thousand Snakes.
General Darkmoon saw Sukob and respected him very much.
"Sukob, the man favored by God."
"I have traveled to many places, and I have been to the fire-protecting city of Suinhor, but unfortunately I was not able to see the beloved king of the Scarlet Goddess."
"I have also been to the City of Lights in the Land of the Rising Sun. Unfortunately, the Colossus of God Ivar has collapsed. What is even more regrettable is that I also did not see Apostle Oran."
It was full of regrets in the front, but there was a turning point in the back.
It is precisely because of these regretful foreshadowings that this ordinary meeting seems to be different.
These ordinary words also supported General Darkmoon's admiration for the person in front of him and the importance he attached to this meeting.
"But this time."
"I finally realized my dream, because a living being favored by the gods is standing in front of me."
General Darkmoon is very interesting, and at this time he doesn't look like a battle-hardened general.
Although his words were very respectful, Sukob felt that.
What he respects is not Sukob's status as a favored one.
It is the power possessed by Sukob, or the power possessed by the gods behind him.
After some words of admiration to build a closer relationship, the general got straight to the point.
"You must think that I am a careerist, a person who is desperate to seize power, a person who bullies orphans and widows and takes over this country."
"Yeah?"
The general looked at Sukob just when one thought he was going to defend himself.
He said.
"Yes, I am such a person."
"I am an ambitious person. I am desperate to seize power. I am seizing this country from the hands of an orphan and a widowed mother."
"But what I want to say is that what this country needs is not a good person, and what it needs is not a moral saint."
"The King's Court of Ten Thousand Snakes has reached a stage of crisis. He needs a person or a group of people to strongly support it. The previous king has proven that he can't, and a child can't do it."
"So I stood up."
"As long as it can be saved, as long as it can be good for this country."
"No matter what means I use, no matter what method I use, I will do it."
Sukob once again confirmed his previous judgment. This was indeed a charming general, and every word he said could move people's hearts.
Even when he makes remarks that deviate from morality, it makes people feel as if he is right.
Although there is definitely something high-sounding in the words, when a person actually says and does it, it feels completely different.
But Sukob was not interested in all this: "General!"
"I am just an outsider, a wizard who is separated from the world. We never interfere in such things."
"So what do I think and what do I see."
"it is not important."
General Darkmoon saw that Sukob didn't answer, and felt that the old man in front of him was difficult to deal with.
He asked the waiter to serve wine and snacks, and then filled Sukob's glasses himself.
After the atmosphere calmed down a lot, he started talking about this country directly.
"The King of Ten Thousand Snakes established the country very late, at least much later than Suinhor. The era of tribal disputes lasted for hundreds of years. It was the King of Ten Thousand Snakes who unified the entire animal husbandry plain and established this great kingdom.
nation."
"Think about it, it's been more than five hundred years since now."
"A few hundred years ago there were not so many people, a few hundred years ago there was no paper, a few hundred years ago there were not so many varieties of crops, and there were not so many powerful people."
"People hundreds of years ago couldn't imagine what's happening now."
"They could not imagine that the snake craftsmen and workshops could make things that they could not imagine before. They could not imagine that Suinhall's geniuses continued to emerge from generation to generation, making all kinds of tools and writing all kinds of books.
A masterpiece that bursts out with such dazzling brilliance of civilization."
“I can’t imagine generations of alchemists moving forward. I can’t imagine the looms and spinning machines of the White Tower Alchemy Alliance constantly turning, producing cloth like running water. I have never seen hundreds of alchemy workshops producing piles of cloth.
The port is full of goods.”
"But what about in the King's Court of Ten Thousand Snakes?"
"We are still using systems from hundreds of years ago, even things left over from tribal times."
"The king of the past would not have thought of how depraved his descendants would be."
Having said this, General Dark Moon seemed a little excited.
"The King's Court of Ten Thousand Snakes?"
"It's no longer a royal court, it's just a decaying corpse."
"It's rotting, stinking, and infested with insects."
"ignorant, stupid, conservative."
"We don't do anything, we don't change anything, the whole world keeps moving forward, only we stop and linger."
"Countless civilians at the bottom are wailing. No matter how they farm, no matter how they graze, or no matter how much they fish, they still can't have enough to eat, and they can't survive."
“Famines and rebellions break out every year, driving old people into the wilderness to fend for themselves, and drowning newborns in rivers; foreign wars are launched again and again not to win anything, but just to send those restless young people away.
Go to the battlefield and kill them."
"What kind of world is this?"
General Dark Moon came to Sukob and looked at the old man.
"It's time for a change."
"If we don't change, this country will be finished."
"I have been fighting wars, sending young people to war, and suppressing rebellions one after another."
"But the more this happens, the less hope I see."
"A few years ago I took a trip to Suinhall and then took a boat trip to the Land of the Rising Sun."
"Although Suinhall is also declining, its heritage is incomparable to ours; however, the changes in the White Tower Alchemy Alliance have allowed me to see opportunities."
"I saw the same situation in Suinhall, which gave me insights; but only in the White Tower Alchemy Alliance, I saw something different."
"So I'm back and I know what to do."
General Darkmoon looked at Sukob expectantly: "Mr. Sukob!"
"You must feel this way too, right?"
"There's something wrong with this country and it needs to change."
"I heard that you were born in a small village in the wilderness. I think no one can understand these problems and pains better than you, right?"
It is clear.
General Dark Moon said so much, hoping to win Sukobra to his side.
But Sukob looked at General Dark Moon and just responded.
"You are right, General Dark Moon, I come from a small village in the wilderness."
Gu Tu
"only."
"I'm an Ewellian!"
General Dark Moon was stunned for a moment: "People from Aiweier have some familiar names."
Sukob didn't shy away from it: "A country that was once conquered by the King's Court of Ten Thousand Snakes, the Ewel people were massacred, enslaved, and exiled hundreds of years ago until they are never seen again."
General Darkmoon then remembered that the Aiweier people were that ethnic group that had disappeared for hundreds of years.
A group that has long been forgotten.
General Darkmoon suddenly felt embarrassed. Everything he said seemed to be a wink to a blind man.
In other words, he didn't expect that the other party turned out to be an ethnic group that had a long-standing hatred against the Ten Thousand Snakes King's Court. After all, there were no Evel people on the Ruhe Island, and most of the Evel people had almost integrated into other ethnic groups.
I don't remember their past.
General Darkmoon offered a new price: "That was hundreds of years ago. We can't judge or modify what happened in the past, but at least we can look to the future."
"You are the favored one of the gods. Don't you want to spread the faith of the gods in this country?"
"This country is huge, why can't it accommodate a few more temples?"
Sukob did not agree as readily as General Darkmoon expected. He shook his head and looked at the other party: "What a blasphemy!"
"Aren't you afraid of angering the gods in the Ten Thousand Snakes Temple?"
General Darkmoon spread his hands: "Gods don't care about this."
"Isn't it?"
"The gods don't care, why should we?"
"The gods don't care, so why should we speculate on whether they will be angry? Why can't a country believe in multiple gods? Is this blasphemy?"
"This so-called blasphemy is nothing more than mortal imagination."
Sukob: "The arrogance and folly of mortals!"
"The gods don't care because they don't need it, because they are transcendent from the mortal world; everything that mortals do may or may not be meaningful to them, but in any case it cannot affect the majesty of the gods."
"But in this world, in this human world, everything comes from the gift of God."
"Do mortals have the right to not care?"
"Are mortals capable of withstanding the possible wrath of gods?"
General Darkmoon fell into deep thought.
He had met many devout believers, as well as many despicable people who used the name of gods to do dirty things, but he had never heard anyone analyze the relationship between gods and mortals from this perspective.
Sukob didn't say anything, turned around and left.
General Dark Moon came to his senses and said to Sukob: "You are not only a favored person of the gods, but also a wise man."
Sukob opened the door and said only: "My god is the god of truth and knowledge."——
Sukob sold out all the magical scrolls he brought and purchased a large amount of needed supplies.
There are rare books, experimental tools, and alchemy props.
There are also many extraordinary materials that witch spirits use to study.
The most precious part among them are the extraordinary items and materials for drawing rituals that Sukob will use to break through the apostle rank.
This is also the reason why Sukob came to Pansi City. These extraordinary materials are in the King's Court of Ten Thousand Snakes, and it is estimated that only Pansi City can collect them.
Although the city of Pans still maintained stability, Sukob could faintly feel that the undercurrent beneath the plane was becoming more and more intense.
It can break out anytime, anywhere.
Sukob was ready to leave.
Two days before leaving, Sukobu came to the Temple of the Ten Thousand Snakes.
The temple building is very large, and the whole building is like a city within a city.
Looking up, you can see the blazing flames on the holy fire platform.
It is said.
It was a fire demon that had survived for hundreds of years.
The guards in front of the temple stopped him.
"I want to go to the temple library and have a look, and I have received permission."
As a witch spirit, a believer in the god of truth and knowledge.
When you come to Pance City, you can't miss the legendary oldest library in the King's Court of Ten Thousand Snakes, the library of the temple.
Under the guidance of a divine attendant, Sukob entered the temple.
There are many buildings in the temple, and the corridors are crisscrossed.
Sukob came to a relatively remote place in the depths and entered the library where there were many rumors outside.
There are indeed a lot of books here, but they are not as exaggerated as the legend says.
However, Sukob was still very excited. The wizard spirit's desire for books and knowledge was burned deep in his soul.
"Word!"
"history!"
"inherited!"
"Everything in the Ten Thousand Snakes King's Court is recorded here."
Sukob believes that writing is one of the most important things in the world. Because of writing, civilization exists.
Because of writing, people are called humans and are distinguished from beasts.
Even after thousands of years, many things have disappeared, but words still record the past.
Sukob, an old man, suddenly threw himself into the sea of books with a smile on his face.
Sukob read a lot of books and did not leave even after dark.
He was prepared to wait until the day he left.
In addition to books, he also saw some broken clay tablets in the corner with words engraved on them.
"Ancient clay tablets? Isn't this something from hundreds or thousands of years ago?"
Sukob carefully picked up a piece of the clay tablet, for fear of breaking it, even though it itself was already broken into pieces.
After watching for a long time, Sukob sighed.
"It's a pity that I can't see the words clearly."
A voice came from behind: "The years are too long, enough to consume most of the things in this world."
"These books, these clay tablets, and many things here, including the people here."
"Thousands of years from now, they will cease to exist."
Sukob looked at the person who came, it was the prophet from the Temple of the Ten Thousand Snakes.
Her voice was a little pessimistic, even desolate.
The prophet was very young. She saluted the elder Sukob and said, "I am taking the liberty of disturbing you."
Sukob replied: "No, it is also Sukob's honor to be able to meet the prophet of the temple!"
"Thank you very much for allowing me to come here to view the temple's collection of books."
Although the opponent's power is not strong, the meaning they represent is different.
In a sense, she is also a favored one, with a god behind her.
It's just that the prophet herself doesn't know who the god behind her is, and whose power she saw the pictures she saw.
Later, Sukob responded to what the prophet had just said.
"Although these books, clay tablets, objects, and even you and me will disappear with time."
"But words will never disappear. They will always record everything about us and tell people in the future."
The blind prophetess had a lace over her eyes, and her delicate face could be seen through the light.
Although she lost her eyes, for some reason, people still felt that she could see herself.
You can even see directly into your own heart.
"I came to see you at this time because I have a doubt and an invitation."
Sukob probably understood what the invitation was, so he asked directly.
"What is the doubt?"
Blind Prophetess: “How can we save this country?”
"How can we delay the disaster?"
Sukob didn't want to get involved in such trouble, so he could only pretend to be confused.
"How to save?"
"Isn't it great now?"
Blind female prophet: "On the night when the king died, when I was praying to the gods, I saw the gods casting their gaze on the world."
"I saw the apostles walking on the earth, and I saw the disasters coming to this country."
At that time, the prophet also saw the scene where Sukob was summoned by the God of Truth and Knowledge.
The blind prophetess looked at Sukob: "Something big must be happening, right?"
"The apostles are coming to the world one after another. This must be a secret related to the gods."
Sukob said nothing. This question was even more difficult to answer than the previous one.
The blind prophetess stood under the dim light of the lamp. The faint light shone and shone on her fair and smooth skin, which actually had a porcelain-like shiny texture.
If a young man faced such requests and inquiries from a blind girl, he might not be able to resist.
but.
Sukob is a weathered old man.
What he prefers is to remain silent and watch what happens.
The blind female prophet didn't get the answer she wanted, so she continued to talk about her request.
"Dark Moon!"
"He thought that what he did could change anything. He thought that he could save everything with his own power."
"But what he did will only push this country into the abyss."
"I want to ask you to help us, help us save this country."
"He doesn't know anything, and I can't see the future clearly."
"We all saw the storm approaching from a distance, and saw that the ship was about to capsize, but we didn't know why the storm came."
Sukob did not expect that the blind girl in front of him would make what could be described as a somewhat abrupt request.
"How can I help?"
"kill him?"
"Can everything be saved by killing him? Wouldn't this country fall into the abyss without him?"
"O prophet of the Temple of the Serpents, it is not the storm that is about to overturn this ship, and it has nothing to do with the gods."
"But this big ship."
"It's already riddled with holes."
The blind female prophet was silent, and after a long time she continued.
"I have no idea!"
"I really don't know what to do!"
"But I have already had a premonition, a premonition of the coming disaster."
"I can't do anything, I have no power."
"So I want you to help us."
Blind Snake Girl: "I don't want to kill anyone, and I don't know whether Dark Moon is right or wrong."
"But I know that when disaster strikes, we are powerless to resist."
"Whether it's Dark Moon or me."
"I just don't want to just sit and watch..."
"The foreseen scene is coming."
Sukob understood what the snake girl probably wanted to say.
The Land of the Rising Sun is blessed by the God of Alchemy, so everything is within a controllable range and the most critical transition is completed.
Suinhor also has the Scarlet Goddess. Although this is also an old and big broken ship, and I don’t know what the Scarlet Goddess will plan next; but when it is about to capsize, gods will come out to save it.
reveal all the details.
Only the King’s Court of Ten Thousand Snakes.
The gods did not respond and did not have the power of an apostle.
This is the only empty space. Once something goes wrong, all kinds of monsters and monsters may come out and take a bite, pushing the disaster to an uncontrollable point.
In particular, we are now in a window of changing times.
here.
The plain of pastoral animals under the jurisdiction of the godless, the most central place on the giant island of Ruhe.
Just like in the center of the eye of the storm, ordinary people may not feel anything, and it is impossible to know such information; but the blind woman in front of her may have felt or seen something.
The blind prophet did not express it very clearly. She was a woman who had been living deep in the temple, a believer who had dedicated his eyes to living in darkness since he was a child to become a prophet.
She is not as eloquent or inspiring as General Darkmoon.
Sukob could feel that she did not use any scheming or tactics to deal with him.
At the same time, he also felt the prophet's helplessness and hesitation from his words.
Sukob sympathized with the prophet, perhaps because a young girl lost her eyes since childhood and was trapped in the depths, or perhaps because of her words.
However, he was still not prepared to interfere in this matter: "I have been a believer in God all my life."
"I never think too much about anything, I just follow God's will."
Sukob used very tactful words, but firmly rejected the prophet.
"Whatever God tells me to do, I will do."
“If God doesn’t say it, I won’t do it.”
The blind female prophet raised her head: "What if the gods above never send down oracles?"
Sukob was silent. He remembered the legends and stories of the Aiweier people a long time ago.
I think of Shoeburn, the hero who saved the Ewell people. This believer who firmly believed in the Lord of Life finally became the favored one of the God of Truth and Knowledge.
Even so, the Lord of Life has never even laid eyes on him.
The blind female prophet lowered her head, her face a little forlorn.
"We have no protection from God."
"When the storm comes, we hesitate."
"What will be left after the storm passes?"
Sukob hesitated for a moment, but finally he revealed some information because the blind girl allowed him to enter this ancient library.
Although he was not prepared to get involved in this matter, as a prepared apostle of the God of truth and knowledge, he still knew information and knowledge beyond what ordinary people thought.
And sometimes, this knowledge and information can change a country or even an ethnic group.
"The Lord of Life is one of the most powerful gods."
"The Creator of Life."
The prophet looked at Sukob doubtfully: "But God will not protect us."
"I want to seek guidance from the gods, but I don't know where it is."
Sukob: "That may be that you have not found a real asylum."
"The dominant gods have already given you protection, but you don't know how to use this power and have been begging for help."
"In other words, the protectors are always in front of you, but you can't see them."
Sukob: "This land where we are, the entire giant island of Ruh."
"They are all the kingdom of the Lord of Life, the back garden of this great god."
The prophet was stunned for a moment, she still didn't understand what Sukob meant.
Sukob opened his mouth and said in a hoarse voice.